Split Ends
by nightknight12
Summary: Rapunzel and Eugene are in line for the throne. With lack of knowledge in the ruling field, they are starting to feel pressure on their shoulders. Not wanting to take on the responsibilities, Rapunzel and Eugene brew up a plan to escape. The plan back fires when Rapunzel's past comes back to haunt her, literally.


Knight 7

Tatum Knight

Mr. Denton

CP English 10

24 September 2012

Split Ends

Once upon a time, in a land far away lived Princess Rapunzel and her Prince Eugene Fitz-Herbert. They were in line for the throne, but Rapunzel was having second thoughts about taking on the responsibilities of queen. Sitting in her room, in the tallest tower with Eugene, she was contemplating about her new life in the kingdom. She was worried that she couldn't live up to her parents' potential when they had to resign. As she was looking out her window, the rain, clouds, and fog from below reminded her of her old home.

She started to reminisce a few years back, about her life she used to know up in the tower, isolated from the rest of the world. She remembered her mother coming home and calling on her to pull her up. She remembered every birthday pass, seeing the floating lights and wanting to go watch the lanterns float up in the sky. Even though back then, she didn't know what they necessarily stood for, but to her, they were breath taking. Every year she wanted to leave the tower just for one night and explore the land. Unfortunately, her step-mother never trusted her or wanted her to leave because she was "too special to risk her life in the nasty, cruel, world".

She felt relieved when she was able to leave the tower, but a small part inside of her missed her old life. She was never pressured this severe because the real world pains were never put on her shoulders. This is the reason she didn't want to be the queen of the kingdom: all the pressure was on her shoulders and everybody is depending on you to make the right choices for them. To both her and Eugene, not being properly raised in royalty really gave them a disadvantage. This isn't possible, running the kingdom with lack of knowledge.

Rapunzel turned to look at Eugene. She admired his wavy brown hair glistening in the moonlight as he read his book he's been reading for weeks now. Rapunzel looked at Eugene and said "Eugene, my darling, I'm afraid. I'm afraid of messing up. I'm afraid of making the wrong choice. I am not fit to be a queen."

"My Rapunzel, you will make the perfect queen. You will make me a great king, like you made me a better man. With us side by side, we shall never be scared or worried in making the wrong decision," Eugene said softly to Rapunzel while stroking her brown hair.

"I know hon. I'm over exaggerating. I just want to leave. To escape this, what I used to think paradise," Rapunzel said as she was looking down at her fiddling hands.

"Just sleep on it my love. I'm sure you're just stressed and need to get a full night of rest before you go and make your final decision. I'm going to follow you any way you choose to go. I'll be the one you look to for advice if you need it," Eugene said.

"I guess you're right dear. You always know what to say. Goodnight, I love you more than a thousand stars in the night sky," said Rapunzel.

"And I love you more than a thousand moons my love, goodnight," Eugene said.

The next morning, the sun was just emerging out of the sky, with the birds chirping in joy that the rain has vanished. Rapunzel stayed up most of the night considering the thought of leaving the castle. She weighed out the pros and cons of parting with the kingdom. She was worried about her parents not accepting her betrayal. On the bright side, all of her worries and problems would tamper down. Leaving, to her, sounded like the right thing to do.

Planning her escape, Rapunzel did, while Eugene and the rest of the towns folk slept peacefully as the morning sun arose. As the town started to liven up, she headed out to get all the supplies her and Eugene would need on their quest. At the market, she purchased; light foods such as nuts and berries, a canteen, soaps and a compass.

On her way back to the castle, behind her she felt a light tap on her shoulder. She panicked, thinking it was a guardsmen going to turn her in to her father. She turned to face the shoulder tapper. It was a green eyed, red haired girl that wore a golden yellow dress that looked a little worn. Rapunzel knew immediately who it was; Bethany.

"Oh my lanta! I haven't seen you since the wedding! How have you've been? How have your parents been? Better yet, how are you and Eugene? My god, he has such a dreamy smile and those eyes! Those eyes are just spectacular and…" Bethany said

"Hello Beth. It's nice to see you again, and I've been great along with all the rest of my family," said Rapunzel.

Beth, still rambling on about Eugene didn't hear a word Rapunzel said. Rapunzel didn't have time for this nonsense; she had a risky plan to work out. As she was about to say her goodbye's to Beth, Beth asked her yet another question.

"How come you have all that food in your basket? Doesn't the cook serve you food so you don't have to go shopping? Err, Rapunzel, are you planning on running away from this town? You can't do that! You're next in line for throne; you can't bail on us when the going gets tough," Beth exclaimed.

Now Rapunzel was trapped. She didn't know what to say, but she had to think of something fast. "Oh no, no, no. You have it all wrong my dear Beth! I'm um, expecting a baby!"

Beth's eyes widen in excitement. "A baby! I'm so happy for you Rapunzel! You'll be a great mother," said Beth.

"Thank you, Beth. Now I must be off before my dear husband wakes and I'm not there. Ta ta!" Rapunzel said.

When she got home, Eugene was pacing franticly in the absence of his wife. Once he caught eye of her, he rushed over to give her a huge hug. She explained to him where she went and her plan to set out on their adventure.

That night, after she had dinner with her parents, they bid their goodnights and were off to bed, but Rapunzel and Eugene had other plans for the night. Around the stroke of midnight, when it was as quiet as a ghost town in the village, they started their journey to her old home, with just a bag of necessary items and each other.

By the time the sun started to rise, Rapunzel and Eugene were spent and had to rest. They made progress toward the abandoned tower and didn't want to stop, but the couple started to get a slight bit irritable with each other and their separate opinions on direction.

"Honey, we go this way. Turn left at this tree and it should take us to the opening of the valley," said Eugene.

Irritated as Rapunzel was with Eugene she managed to keep her temper at a low. "No, I lived there all my life; I think I should know where I lived for 18 years, thank you. Go straight, and then left at the horse shaped bush," Rapunzel said.

"If we get lost it's on you. So don't go blaming me when we are stranded. This was a dumb idea in the first place. Why couldn't we just of stayed in the castle and faced our fate of being everyone's dream: being king and queen. We should be thankful, and all you are is selfish," Eugene said.

"I cannot believe you just said that to me Eugene. I guess I know how you really feel about me. You're better off without me," said Rapunzel.

As Rapunzel stormed off in pure frustration, Eugene stood there in shock of what he just said to her. "Rapunzel! Rapunzel! I didn't mean it my dear; I'm just worried about our safety! Come back!" begged Eugene.

In a blink of an eye, she was gone and Eugene rushed after her to find her. The thought of her alone, in the mysterious woods was torturing to him. "She could fall and I would never know, or she could find her way and never send a search party to find me if I get lost. Oh please Rapunzel, come back!" cried Eugene.

He heard a familiar squeal coming from the west. Then following was what Eugene had been praying for, her voice screaming his name. He ran in the direction of the voice and finally found her in the vines that hid the opening to the tower. "Look Eugene, I found it! My directions were correct! Not yours," said Rapunzel.

"I'm so glad we found it! But listen, before we go any further, I want to apologize for what I said back there. I'm just tired and I was irritated with myself," Eugene said.

Rapunzel kissed him and darted across the valley to meet again with her old home she knew and loved. Eugene followed closely on her tail as she slowly came to a halt. Reality hit her, she made it here. This is where she's going to stay with Eugene and raise a family.

As Rapunzel fantasized about the future, Eugene found the door and hollered for her to come inside. She could stand it no longer, she ran into the tower full of excitement. While looking around, everything was as she saw it last. Flashbacks hit her like a ton of bricks and overwhelmed her to the point she felt uneasy. Agony and pain overwhelmed her as she thought of the moments in the past in the castle where she once had lived.

Eugene carried her up to her room and put her to bed. He cuddled her like he always does to make her sleep soundly. As she fell into deep sleep, Eugene started to clean the house from bottom to top, and stopping every once in a while to remember what had happened and almost happened. Clean, the house was after Eugene spent hours working on it to make his wife happy, he finally crawled back in to bed, and in no time was asleep.

Rapunzel woke in panic covered in sweat from her dream. She dreamt of her step-mother haunting her and tormenting her. In the dream, she could hear voices of her step-mother telling her that she can never leave the castle as she sat at the arc of the window looking out. Her distress awoke Eugene and he tried to comfort her by asking her to tell him what was wrong. Unfortunately, this made her more troubled and distraught.

Two days passed and the dreams escalated to visions, then to hallucinations. One morning, Eugene woke to Rapunzel in the kitchen screaming at somebody. He ran down to rescue her from the intruder, but nobody was there except Rapunzel. She never noticed his presence and continued to argue with the unknown being. All of a sudden she took off up the stairs to the bedroom, in the highest part of the tower. Eugene followed her up. Then _BANG!_ The door to the room shut right in front of him. He tried with all his might to bust down the door, but something was blocking it.

Screams and dreadful whimpers came from the room, which made Eugene more anxious to knock down the door. _"She was still arguing, but with who?"_ Eugene thought. Then he heard a blood curdling scream; it was Rapunzel's. Following the scream was an evil but familiar laugh. He kicked the door one last time, and it opened. There in the room he saw a figure standing faced out the window.

She turned around and there stood Mother Gothel in her black velvet dress with her wavy black hair and aged skin. She gave Eugene an evil smile and walked on the ledge of the window and jumped off. He ran to the window to see the result of her fall, but shockingly there he found Rapunzel on the ground, dead. He could not believe his eyes. Gothel had pushed her out the window to get her revenge. Eugene could not live or be somebody without Rapunzel. Eugene thought about his good times he had with her, and what kind of life he'd have if she wasn't around. The life without his love would be glum and miserable. He walked out to the window, looked down and took his last breath.


End file.
